When my son was a toddler my husband and I wanted him to experience the whole magical Santa thing, as we did when we were kids. But after one year of celebrating this way with our son we didn't feel right about it, so we let him eventually forget about it. Now, I don't think that children will be scarred for life if they are led to believe that Santa comes to their house to bring them presents. I celebrated that way and I'm not scarred. But we want to make sure that our kids know at a very young age that there is only one who is all-knowing and omnipresent: God. We don't want them to believe that there is anyone else who can see them or who knows what presents they want.
We also pray for missionaries around the world, sponsor a child in another country, and pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Our kids know that around the world there are children who are in need and suffering, and that as Christians it is our responsibility to help. So we decided to teach our kids about who Santa/St. Nicholas really was: a Christian whose desire was to spread the love of Jesus and help the poor. We read a book titled St Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend by Julie Stiegemeyer. This has been a wonderful teaching tool! It depicts St. Nicholas as a jolly man with a white beard in a red robe. This helps our kids to make the connection between St. Nicholas in the story and the Santa that they see displayed in other books and decorations. At the end of the book it explains that the reason why we give gifts today is to continue the tradition of giving to others, as St. Nicholas did. For older kids I also recommend the book The Story of St. Nicholas by Cheryl Odden. You can purchase it from Voice of the Martyrs. It is a more historically accurate account of St. Nicholas's life and doesn't depict him as a jolly man with a white beard. You may be thinking that our kids are missing out because Santa doesn't bring them presents; not at all. They have fun pretending and watching movies of Santa flying in a sleigh with deer and sliding down chimneys. But they know that it's pretend, just like fairies, leprechauns, and Barney the talking dinosaur. To them it is a make-believe game. Our kids receive gifts from us, but not a ton. We also try to make Jesus more important than the gifts, of course. We listen to a lot of Christian Christmas music. We also listen to Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But more often than not we are listening to Silent Night, Oh Come all Ye Faithful, and Angels We Have Heard on High. We decorate with nativity scenes, but we also decorate with Santa and snowmen. The only thing I don't like to decorate my house with is presents (like ornaments that are presents or present stocking holders and such). I just try to keep the focus off of the material things. I know that there are some Christians who feel convicted about celebrating Christmas at all. I think that's fine. There was a time when I felt uneasy about certain pagan origins like the Christmas tree. It's true, the Christmas tree has pagan origins. But the way I see it is, what Satan uses for evil, we can use for good. While the Christmas season is full of materialism and extravagance, we don't have to partake in that. And while the season is surrounded by pagan traditions, so is just about any other holiday. Even our wedding rings that we wear every day have pagan origins. We're never going to be able to get away from it. But we can claim the season for Jesus. I would love to hear how you celebrate Christmas and other holidays around this time of year, so please share!
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After my post yesterday about how awful TV can be for kids I thought I would write about shows that I think are great for kids! I'm not against TV, I just think we should carefully select the shows our kids watch, and limit TV watching. In case you didn't know, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no TV before age two (this includes background TV), and no more than two hours per day after age two. I'm also not a fan of flashy, fast-paced shows. I don't think it's good for a kid's brain. Here are our favorites:
Little Bear: Ahh, Little Bear. Even saying that makes me want to relax. It's like the classical music of the cartoon world. I used to watch it when I was a kid and I loved Little Bear's imagination. My son and daughter both have wonderful imaginations thanks in part to him. I also love the cute little phrases that Little Bear, and now my kids, say. You can get these on VHS at Amazon or Ebay. The Busy World of Richard Scarry: I used to watch this when I was little as well. I love that it demonstrates all of the people in a community working together. It's also calm and teaches letters, numbers, manners, nursery rhymes, and so much more. I'm not a fan of the newer Busytown videos, which are more flashy than the older videos. We have found many of these on VHS at thrift stores. Signing Time: Ever since before my kids were born I was excited to teach them sign language. I borrowed many children's sign language DVDs from the library and none compare to these. We began with Baby Signing Time when my children were toddlers and moved on to Signing Time by the time they were about two years old. We also listen to the Signing Time songs on CD. My kiddos now know hundreds of signs and use them daily! Most public libraries carry the Signing Time DVDs. Curious George: I love that George learns a new life lesson in each episode. And at the end of the episode we get to watch real-life kids demonstrating what George learned: everything from composting to playing with pipes and water, to cooking with local produce. My kids are big Curious George fans. Their interest began with the Curious George books. Barney: This was my favorite show as a kid. I remember watching it and feeling like I was in a magical fairy tale land. Plus it teaches colors, shapes, numbers, letters, manners, and healthy relationships. It's an all-around wonderful show. We have found all of our Barney videos on VHS at thrift stores. I don't care for the newer episodes that I've seen recently on PBS Kids. They don't feel as magical to me. Word World: This is a new favorite. Everything in Word World is made of...words! All of the animal characters are made up of the letters that spell the word they are. It's really neat to see. The word friends go on adventures and face challenges that can only be resolved with the right word. That word is built letter by letter, or sound by sound. Once the word is built, it changes into the thing it is! Sid the Science Kid: My kids love to investigate, explore, and discover, which is why we like Sid the Science Kid. Plus the songs are catchy. On a side note, I think the teacher on Sid has a pretty sweet deal. She seems to have an entire school all to herself, with every teaching resource imaginable, and only four students! No wonder she's so enthusiastic! I write a letter on a piece of construction paper and he traces it with a paintbrush. Then he demolishes his beautiful letters by painting crazy designs all over the paper. It's a great pre-handwriting and letter recognition activity.
Both of these are calcium supplements. The one on the left is called OsCal. My husband picked it up for me after my thyroid surgery, as the surgeon told him to. He chose this specific one because it was cheap. Once I looked at the ingredients I decided to look for a healthier brand. The one on the right, OsteoSheath is the one my naturopath recommends. It's a bit pricier, but definitely worth it. Let's look at the ingredients in OsCal: Now, as a general rule of thumb, if it contains more than ten ingredients it's probably not good for you. And if it has a number (yellow 5 lake) it's definitely not good for you. I also see some parabens in there (methylparaben, propylparaben), which are carcinogens (cause cancer). Now let's look at the ingredients in OsteoSheath: Do you see the small ingredients list at the very bottom? That's what I'm talking about. It's not perfect, though. I do see Polysorbate 80 and PEG 3350 in the tablet coating. But it's much much better than OsCal. I actually just realized while writing this post that Polysorbate 80 and PEG 3350 were in this supplement. I somehow missed the tablet coating ingredients. But at least it's less than 0.5%. I think I'll keep looking around though.
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